Authorities say a 33-year-old Oxnard man has been arrested in connection with a string of burglaries and thefts that stretched from Thousand Oaks to Camarillo and Oxnard this summer.
According to the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office, investigators tied Leonel Cruz to a series of crimes that included residential burglary, auto theft, property theft and the theft of clothing from a retail store.
The incidents began on July 13, when a vehicle was reported stolen in Oxnard. Detectives later identified Cruz as the driver, officials said.
Days later, on July 22, sheriff’s officials say Cruz used the stolen vehicle as his getaway car after stealing clothing from a WSS retail store in Oxnard.
Two days after that, on July 24, a resident in the 4400 block of Paseo De La Paz in Thousand Oaks reported a burglary in progress. Surveillance video allegedly captured Cruz entering an open garage, stealing property and fleeing in the stolen car, according to the Sheriff’s Office.
On July 26, sheriff’s officials say surveillance cameras at a ranch facility in an unincorporated area of Camarillo recorded Cruz driving onto the property and taking about $4,000 worth of equipment.
Detectives with the Camarillo Investigation Bureau and the Ventura County Auto Theft Task Force arrested Cruz on Aug. 21 outside a business on Saviers Road in Oxnard. At the time, he was driving a different vehicle, officials said. The previously stolen vehicle was recovered separately.
Cruz was booked at the Ventura County Main Jail on charges of first-degree residential burglary, grand theft, auto theft and possession of a stolen motor vehicle, according to the Sheriff’s Office.
Officials added that he also had an outstanding felony arrest warrant in Ventura County.
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